The Beauty Of Serendipity.

The BEST moments in life are almost never planned … so why are we so busy trying to “plan” our whole lives away?

We feel that being busy makes us more productive, and we have mistaken a full calendar for a fulfilling existence. When we reduce our brief time on this earth to a spreadsheet with its color-coding and bullets, we miss the beauty of serendipity: the unforgettable memories that happen in the in-between.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary Serendipity Definition: “the ability to find valuable or agreeable things not sought for”

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Life never ever arrives fully formed; rather, it presents itself as a small seed in need of nurture, an idea or dream meant to be playfully molded. Along the way, we experiment and learn new things; we discover what we love and what we’d rather avoid; soon, we find where our talents lie, and our play focuses and narrows; we train and excel in one area or another, and a hobby turns into a love.

But then the pressure to “grow up” forces our hands, and we trade our childlike trust for a “need” to know. We stray from curiosity and stumble into a desperate need to constantly be in control. For many, this desire to “have a plan” begins to consume them, and before they know it, they’ve lost all their sense of adventure too.

This is where many of us find ourselves today, blinded by busyness, distracted by deadlines, convincing ourselves that as long as we make our meetings, attend our appointments, and clear our checklists, then we have succeeded… if only we remembered there is so much more to life.

Here is the good news. Just because things don’t fit neatly into our plans doesn’t mean there is no joy to be found in them. This is the Beauty Of Serendipity. Read that another time if needed.

Let me be clear: this is not a claim to live without an aim. We should never expect anything to come to us unless we work towards it. Having aspirations and strategies to obtain them is useful and wise. This is rather a message to temper those desires for constant control and become more comfortable with letting life surprise us.

The irony is that we can begin to experience this beauty at a moment’s notice once we open ourselves up to it. Think of it as the lens through which you view your days; you tend to find what you are searching for. In this same vein, when you open yourself to seeing more than only “what you’re looking for,” your lens widens. The view doesn’t change, but you suddenly begin to notice things that were always there, but you had not previously perceived. This takes you from thinking inside the box to standing on top of it.

The “how” isn’t that difficult; it starts with being a little more open. Nonetheless, it’s tricky; it means letting go.

The funny thing is, these moments never take the same shape twice. A stranger decides to greet you and suddenly becomes a lifelong friend. It’s that new favorite place you only discovered because you got lost on your way to where you were going. It’s a knock at the door when you were about to sit down; a friend wants a few minutes of your time when you feel like you have so much to do; it’s the eye contact held for a few seconds too long. This is Serendipity, the art of finding treasure you were not in search of.

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Life happens in seasons, each with its own stories and strangers. This week, open yourself up to notice more than what “fits in your box”.

It may sound trite, but I, for one, still haven’t fully internalized this and I suspect we could all benefit from hearing it again: Life is a journey, not a destination… Enjoy the big moments, but don’t lose the ones in between.

P.S. Think about it with me: when was the last time you told an incredible story of how your GPS took you perfectly from Point A to Point B? How it made no mistakes, took you the same route as always, and accurately predicted your time of arrival? Likely never. On the other hand, I can attest to a number of times when I decided to go somewhere without a map, uncovered a new route, got borderline lost, and, along the way, discovered a new restaurant I suddenly told everyone I knew about. THAT is beautiful; that’s the blessing of Serendipity.

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~ Wednesdays Of Wisdom ~

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